killed himself and a campus officer on campus. >> students gathered last night to remember the officer at a vigil. we visited the county where the gunman is fun. >> reporter: not far from a high school, the large home where ross ashley once lived with his parents. this neighbor said the family seemed to keep to themselves and they described ashley as standoffish. >> they stay off to themselves. like i said, we live on this road, the people on that end are a little outgoing and visiting and stuff like that. it's sad. >> reporter: but during high school ross ashley made a name for himself on the football field as this newspaper account shows and he won scholarships for his academics to a half dozen colleges. most recently he was a part time student at radford university. investigators say it was in radford a day before the virginia tech shooting that actually committed his first crime. armed with a handgun he entered a radford real estate office and demanded a key to a vehicle. the 2011 mercedes suv was found dumped at virginia tech the next day. investigators say after that ross walked up to the officer as he sat in his unmarked patrol car and shot the father of five to death. the shooting was captured on the patrol car video. about 30 minutes later ross ashley was dead, too. he changed his clothes to try to escape the man hunt. police say when an officer eyed him with suspicion, he eyed himself. investigators are looking for a motive and trying to determine if there was any prior contact between ashley and officer kraus. >> this time we have no connection between the two of them. >> reporter: as state police continue their investigation, teachers, students who went to school with ross ashley and friends in the community will be waiting for answers. >> radford university released a statement saying quote, the entire radford university community sends heartfelt condolences to everyone impacted by this tragedy. >> back on the virginia tech campus thousands of people filled the drill field for a candlelight syringe ill last night to remember kraus. the vigil included a moment of silence, two trumpeters played ecotaps as students raised their candles. a virginia text student organized a memorial fund for the family of the officer. those wishing to contribute with mail checks payable to derek kraus memorial fund. national bank of blacksburg. so far more than $34,000 have come in. messages of condolences can be emailed to police. one year and one day. that's the prison sentence for former prince georges county councilmember leslie johnson for her role in a federal corruption case. a judge also ordered her to serve two years probation. leslie johnson admitted to flushing a $100,000 check from a developer and trying to hide almost $80,000 in her underwear when fbi agents showed up at her house. johnson said quote, i am extremely sorry and ashamed of my conduct. she denied knowing anything about her husband's bribing developers, however. a judge denied her request for leniency saying she was not an innocent spouse. >> there was more evidence that was provided that she knew about her husband's illegal activities. nevertheless, she has the punishment and we know that she had to have some kind of punishment for what she did. >> leslie johnson must report to jail on march 9th. earlier this week her husband former county executive jack johnson was sentenced to seven years in prison for taking bribes. i know a lot of people were surprised she got that long. >> she faced the possibility of 20 years then it came down to 18 months and she has one year in a day, they say she'll be out in ten months. >> thank you, chris. >> shifting the focus to a nice, bright, brisk weekend. lull right. it is going to feel like winter. everybody who needs a ling zing in the back of fants, mother nature is going to provide it for you. bright sunshine. cold winter sunshine today as we get so close to the winter solstice. about ten days away from now. these extra short days don't provide much of a chance for the sun to warm us up. temperatures not so bad in the 30s and nearly every spot. 30 in fred priericfrederick, ma. 34 in culpeper and the blue ridge. 38 in martinsburg, west virginia. the cold air hasn't spilled in just yet. one or two lonesome rain drops can be found down into st. mary's county. we'll zoom in there just a little bit. this is extremely light precipitation if you're even going to get anything out there. upstream from us it's all dry. so as a result no precip chances beyond the next little one or two drops in southern maryland for the next hour or so. we'll be left with a mostly sunny, breezy and cold day. highs stays in the low to mid 40s. not much of a warm up today since we're already in the mid to upper 30s. north wind ten to 20 miles per hour will keep windchills in the low 30s. tomorrow sunshine, but still cold. not much of a breeze. tomorrow's high temperatures only in the upper 30s and low 40s. a real taste of wintertime around here. can't complain a whole lot this is another nice weekend. >> it sure is. >> no complaints. rain during the week, sun on the weekend. >> i was complaining on twitter about cold, tom chimed in and said it's december. deal with it. >> record cold for today is four below zero. it could be way colder. >> i'll be raking some leaves this afternoon. i hope they don't blow back at me. >> rake them to the side, that's the key. >> that's your tip of the day, everyone. we have news from overnight. a man and a woman are in the hospital after they were shot in northeast washington. police say someone opened fire around 4:00 this morning on benning road near east capitol street. there is no word on the victims' conditions. we'll bring you more information as we find out. morgan state university students are dealing with the loss of a classmate this morning. u.s. park police say a man was -- that's the wrong script. a senior marketing manager from clinton, maryland, was shot and killed thursday night. baltimore city police say they found 22-year-old brandon hudson dead inside his apartment. neighbors told police they heard strange noises from his apartment early in the evening. police say hudson had no criminal record, but are looking into whether the crime was drug related. a woman hit by a montgomery county ride on bus has died. the accident happened thursday evening in the pouring rain. 63-year-old woman was trying to walk across rockville pike. police say the bus hit her when it tried to turn right. rescuers took the woman to the hospital where she later died. police are still investigating this accident and have not determined who was at fault. police they arrested two protesters in the occupy d.c. camp for assaulting a counter protesters. u.s. park police say a man was holding signs saying get a job and we want our park back near the camp when the protesters ripped the signs out of the guy's hand. these latest arrests come as some business leaders urge city officials to shut down the two camp sites which have been in place for more than a month. they cite health, safety and commerce reasons for wanting to close them down. one local leader says d.c.'s willingness to accommodate the protesters is causing major damage to the park. >> there's not a city in the country except for the washington, d.c. area that has accommodated these protesters to this extent. we're a flash point away from real trouble. mcfearson square will be a toxic waste dump for the next couple of years to clean that park up. >> mayor vincent gray tells news 4 while he supports the protesters' first amendment rights, people are losing their patience with the demonstrators. be sure to tune in tomorrow to news 4 today at 7:00 a.m. mayor gray is our guest on "viewpoint." he talks about occupy d.c., the district's voting rights and the school system. a proposed merger between maryland's flagship university and a sister campus in baltimore has been shut down. the board of regents instead voted in favor of a strategic alliance between the university of maryland college park and university of maryland baltimore. the merger was strongly supported by state senate president mike miller who argued it would bring more research dollars to the university, but the regents pointed out it would also cost money at a time when the state has little to spare. some extra minutes it's what you're going to need if you're using metro this weekend. trains are sharing a train on four out of five lines. on the red line trains will single track between van nesz and friendship heights and between tacoma and forest glen. trains will share a track on the blue line between foggy bottom and arlington cemetery. and on the orange line between foggy bottom and clarn don. yellow line trains will only run between huntington and mount vernon square. all work should be done by the monday morning commute. right now it's 11 minutes after the 6:00 hour early on this saturday. coming up, another gaffe from rick perry. the texas governor's latest blunder that may very well show up on "saturday night live." and you're fired. why donald trump may not be moderating a presidential debate later this month after all. and oscar outage, the dispute that may land some soon to be you're watching news 4 today. aides for top democratic and republican lawmakers say they expect a last minute deal to be made over extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. one aide is quoted adds saying, it has to happen. the only real question is if it will happen next week or the week after. republicans are hoping to tack on a bill that speeds up the construction of the keystone pipeline from canada to texas. president obama says he will veto any bill that has the pipeline provision attached to it. meanwhile the president said by the time the 2012 election rolls around, the country's unemployment rate could be down to 8%. in an interview with "60 mints", president obama says he thinks it is possible. the unemployment rate currently sits at 8.6%. it hasn't been below 8% since president obama took office in january of 2009. now to decision 2012 where things are getting ugly in the republican race. with a little more than three weeks until the iowa caucuses front runner newt gingrich is getting attacked from seemingly all sides. >> newt has a on the of baggage like the fact that gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. >> that ad by a group supports mitt romney is playing in iowa right now and some conservative political analysts are chiming in saying gingrich winning the gop nomination would be devastating to the republicans. but others like rush limbaugh say these attacks against newt will backfire and he'll grow stronger and rise higher in the polls. the iowa caucuses is set for january 3rd. donald trump might have to cancel his presidential debate later this month in iowa. only two of the republican candidates, newt gingrich and rick santorum have accepted invitations to the event. jon huntsman larked out at trump earlier this week saying the debate was simply a chance for the donald to make it all about himself. trump said he's disappointmented the other candidates are not attending that he still hasn't ruled out for a run for the white house as an independent. it appears rick perry has once again made himself a prime target for comedians everywhere. during an interview with the des moines register perry got the number of justices on the supreme court wrong, but he even forgot one of the justice's names. he forgot the name of sewn ya sotomayor struggling for help. he also said the high court had quote, eight unelected judges. the only problem there are nine supreme court justices. looks like "saturday night live" will have to do some rewrites for tonight. >> tune in. >> i love seth myers. >> this is his -- raw meat or steak. >> you've got to know the basics otherwise the "s.n.l." crowd they'll cut you to pieces. >> this is a good day to go shopping. >> yes, indeed. we're going to keep the economy moving. you're going to need to go and spend some quality time. keep your cardio up. all your weekend forecast details are coming up next. you're watching news 4 today. >> it's cloudy to begin our saturday. but this is going to make way for some sunshine. >> it's going to be a nice day today. the cold air is going to be zipping on in here today. don't be fooled on your way out the door it's no so bitter cold just yet. but that being said the cold air is just starting to filter into the area. by the time is day is done, you're going to notice a little change many the air mass outside and tomorrow's going to feel noticeably colder. you know we actually haven't even had an official freeze down at national airport. i think that arrives tonight. outside on your saturday morning we're off to a nice start out there. temperatures are mostly in the 30s. here's a look at the long shot with the capitol dome way out there on the left side of your screen in the early morning darkness. sun's not up until after 7:00 a.m. this morning. as we get our weekend started 38 down at national airport. again, this isn't so cold this morning. we're probably only going to make 43, 45 degrees at most for a high temperature today. winds out of the north at 5 miles per hour. those winds will be increasing in speed as we go through the later morning and into the afternoon hours. 34 in college park. 38 in rockville. 36 at dulles airport even out towards the blue ridge temperatures in the mid to upper 30s this morning. not a real cold start. temperatures near 40 by 10:00 this morning. we'll have some mix of clouds and sunshine off and on through much of the day. up to 45 degrees by 2:00 this afternoon. as the sun goes down this evening temperatures are really going to start to plummet so be ready for that. early morning one or two lonesome rain drops across the eastern shore. all that is going away from us. we don't need to worry at all. if you're getting a little rain drop or two first thing this morning that will not last long. clearing skies overnight will lead to a much colder start. 23 in columbus, ohio. 29 in pittsburgh. that's the air mass that's coming our way. we've got this ribbon of clouds to deal with. look at the clearing skies across parts of ohio and west virginia. it's going to feel like winter with a north breeze today and cold tonight into tomorrow. today sunny, breezy, cold, highs today only low to mid 40s. for tomorrow not much of a breeze. highs tomorrow in the upper 30s and low 40z. the all important seven-day forecast breezy today 45. cold tomorrow with a high near 43 degrees. a little bit of chilly sunshine sticks around through monday and tuesday. maybe a chance of a rain drop showing up wednesday, thursday, friday, time frame. it will not be the inundation of rain like we had this past week. >> it was a downpour, i was out reporting wednesday morning. taking trees out and all. >> it's going to be cold tomorrow. i think we'll be going to a movie or shopping. a good day for that. thank you very much. today east an historic day. a historic rivalry set to write another chapter. it is the 112th meeting between army and navy. for the first time the game is being played locally at fedex field. both sides obviously very excited about this game. okay. yesterday was the only 13th company ball run. where officers run a football 120 miles to fedex field where it will arrive in about 90 minutes. today game starts at 2:30 this afternoon. navy holds the all time series lead. but it's close 55-49 with seven ties. go army, go navy. we have a service community. >> we do. from a family of army veterans i have to say go army. and speaking of sports, one of the capitals had the game of his life. we have the details in this morning's sports minute. good morning, everyone, your sports minute begins with hockey. last night the capitals hosting the maple leafs. defensive dennis wideman was a one man wrecking crew scoring three power play goals. it's wideman's first hat trick of his career. he's the first washington defenseman to score a hat trick in 11 years. sergei gonchar was the last. also, the capitals go four for six on the power play. it's the first time they've had four power play goals in a game in two years. they beat the maple leafs 4-2. also at verizon center last night, the opening of wizards training camp. and guard roger mason junior returns for a second go with his hometown team. the wizards signed him to a one-year deal last season. they finished with a 29d-3 record. they'll start a 66-game season on december 26th at home against the nets. college hoops last night, virginia commonwealth taking on richmond. vcu had 11 steals in the game and the rams defeat the spiders 73-51 improving their record to 6-3678 boxes tonight, d.c.'s own lamont peterson will go toe to toe against unified superlightweight champ kahn. it's d.c.'s first hbo fight in 18 years. almost seth mitchell is on the card as well as lamont's younger brother anthony. the first fight is scheduled for 6:30 at the convention center. that's your sports minute. have a great day. they are the symbol of excellence in film. >> but a labor fight could mean no new oscars are handing out at this year's academy awards. workers at the chicago-based manufacturer of the golden statue ets are fighting over a proposed wage freeze and benefit cuts. union leaders say they are trying to avoid a work stoppage. even if new trophies are not made, the academy said they have a closet full of ready made oscars. they also make trophies for the emmys and mtv music i wards. i hope they figure out a deal. it's not the oscars without little os kor. >> locally, the emmys we hope they're back in production. 6:27 right now. new abuse allegations against another prominent sports figure. the details when we return. also ahead, it wasn't for bargains. the reason that one woman pepper sprayed other shoppers on black friday. why she said she did it. and it's a crime that cost car owners hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. what you can do to protect your vehicle from state farm. this is jessica. hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it's funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company but it's taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? [ crying ] i miss you, jessica! jerry, are you crying? no, i just, i bit my tongue. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm. yoush. you're watching nbc 4. this is news 4 today. good morning, everybody. welcome to news 4 today, i'm angie kbrks off. >> and i'm chris gordon. it is saturday, december 109. more than a dozen people have been killed after a light airplane crashed into a school. at least two dozen children are among the 13 people killed. at least ten people were also injured. five of them with serious burns. class was not in session at the time of the crash, but rescuers are looking desperately for more people who were on the ground near the plane when it went down. a pakistani taliban commander says that the militant group is in peace talks with pakistan's government. it's the first time the taliban has confirmed negotiations. yet pakistan denies any such talks. the united states is not likely to support negotiations with the pakistani taliban which it views as a terrorist group. today, tens of thousands of russians are expected to take to moscow streets in the largest protests since the fall of the soviet union. more than 35,000 people have already signed up on facebook to join the protest in the square near the kremlin. they are aiming their frustration at prime minister putin who many blame for widespread fraud and corruption in